The government is considering the creation of Maritime University to take advantage of long-standing maritime tradition of Kerala and its status as one of the largest sources of India qualified seafarers.

Maritime University "is going to become a reality, if not immediately, in the near future," the Department of port sources said on Tuesday pointing to the school of thought in the department that the boom in the field of maritime education in the country bypassed state.

Minister for Ports and Excise K. Babu told The Hindu on Tuesday that he was open to the idea of the creation of the State Maritime University alone, because he had the possibility to open a lot of opportunities for employment.

Mr. Babu fielding questions on the unjustified delay in Kochi becomes home to India's second Maritime University for more than five years after the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Culture and Tourism recommended that you create these five universities in the country. Kochi was one of the cities, the report said.

The Minister said that the Cabinet has ordered the state Ernakulam district collector in 2011 to identify suitable land for the Indian Maritime University. This step was taken after the foundation for Kochi campus of the Indian Maritime University (IMU) was founded in September of this year.

However, nothing has moved forward with it at the Chief Minister Oommen Chengdu suggested bringing Goa and Karnataka under the jurisdiction of what was then proposed as a Central University as a gesture reflecting the national character of the institution.

IMS has a campus in Kochi offers various courses, including DNS, leading to a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science; Bachelor of Science in shipbuilding; PG Diploma in Marine Engineering and MBA courses in the port and shipping and logistics. Former Secretary K. Mohandas delivery said it was the right time to move toward the goal for the Maritime University of Kerala. He said that the current lull in the shipping industry was due to end in about two years.

If the university is set up now, the first graduates of the institution will be held at the time of the current gloom in the service elevator. Mr. Mahatma, however, called for a global perspective in the training of naval personnel. Narrow views will not help because the shipping industry is a global phenomenon, and people had to be trained to meet international standards, he said. "Prospects for global and cosmopolitan - what is needed" - he said.